Sculptor and painter Josefa Tamayo and ceramist Anna Correia were the big winners in the fifth National Watercolour Competition hosted by the National Gallery.
Chairman of the Castellani House Management Commit-tee, former President Janet Jagan, announced the winners and handed out the prizes on Tuesday. A press release said Tamayo won the first prize, a Gold Medal, and accompanying honorarium of $75,000 for her painting of a local landmark ‘Camp Street Koker.’ Correia won both the Silver and Bronze medals and monetary prizes of $50,000 and $35,000 respectively for her still life studies ‘Pepper Bowl’ and ‘Harvest.’
Honourable mention was also made of Tamayo’s ‘Kissing Bridge’ and Travell Blackman’s ‘Midday at the Market.’ Blackman, a recent graduate of the Burrowes School of Art (BSA) was the Gold Medal winner in 2005 and the Silver Medal winner in the 2004 drawing competition while Tamayo, a tutor in sculpture at the BSA, won gold medals in drawing competitions in 2002 and 2006 and Silver and Bronze medals in both the drawing and watercolour competitions. No award was handed out for the Special Prize in the 16-18 years category which had only one entrant; however, the entrant was commended for his piece.
Curator at the Gallery, Elfrieda Bissember said it was “fortunate to receive the committed support of leading corporate sponsors in the promotion of their biennial competitions, which began in 1996.” The balance of funds from the New Building Society’s 2005 sponsorship of the watercolour competition funded the honoraria for this year’s prize-winners. Bissember also thanked the Diplomatic Corps Association “whose generous funding has allowed the gallery to offer classes in two competition disciplines of drawing and watercolour.”
The Gallery said the judges’ report was prepared by chief judge, artist and archaeologist George Simon. The panel also included leading practitioners in the filed of art and design: painter Merlene Ellis and fashion designer Donna Ramsammy-James who presented the report.
The Gallery is hosting an exhibition displaying the competition entries along with works by other artists and works from the National Collection. The exhibition is open to the public until November 17.
